From the Harry Potter franchise to Star Wars to countless comic book movies making bank at the box office, nerdy things are cool these days. But, as Lars keeps finding out, that doesn’t quite mean being a nerd is cool. He finds that people bait him into questions about nerdy things like Star Wars, then accuse him of being too nerdy for going into too much detail about those things. This week, he and Joel discuss this strange phenomenon. The dynamic duo also explain how Hobo Radio Puppet Theatre, the new feature that debuted on Monday, came to be.
Today, we bring you a very special (and very ridiculous) new feature, Hobo Radio Puppet Theatre. We will be pulling audio clips from our weekly Hobo Radio podcasts and acting them out with puppets. The first one is a Public Service Announcement about unexpected erections that every high school boy will want to listen to. (Special thanks to the ridiculously talented Jane Wynn for making these awesome puppets and to the great Kate Learson for making the video look amazing.)
Joel Murphy and Lars spent their formative years in the 1990s – an era of grunge music, flannel shirts and mosh pits. As members of the “hangout generation,” they both admit to having a feeling of general unrest and unfocused angst. This week they discuss how this has effected them and their fellow 90s children. The duo also poke a few holes in The Dark Knight Rises, discuss a bizarre movie conceit involving foreign characters and speak to the importance of keeping a nicely-manicured lawn (which may or may not be a metaphor).
After her big win at the Academy Awards, it seems like the Internet has officially turned on Anne Hathaway. It seems like Joel Murphy and Lars are the two lone holdouts – defending Anne to their last breath. They explain why they still love Hathaway (and share a few other thoughts on the Oscars) this week. They also discuss Girls Gone Wild going out of business, the many movies starring The Rock coming out this year and the genius of NPH. They also talk about actors with balls of steel who discuss their own stunts (and the ridiculousness of actors filming driving scenes in front of green screens).
While everyone else in the world is out having candle-lit dinners with the ones they love, the dynamic duo spend the evening discussing threesomes, SEAL Team 6 and Die Hard movies. They share the story of a threesome gone horribly, horribly wrong (hint: it ends in a stabbing). And they reveal some fascinating tidbits about the man who shot Osama bin Laden.
Once again, Joel Murphy and Lars are joined by a special guest. This week it’s their friend Kate, who is joining the show as her first stop into super stardom. She’s just killing time with the boys until she gets discovered by NPR and begins a lucrative career hosting a much more organized and high brow show. In the meantime, the crew discusses science fiction tropes, the way women are depicted on television and deadly parasites here on earth. If you ever wanted to learn about orchids that want to trick bees into banging them or wasps that mind control spiders, this is the show for you.
With Joel Murphy’s birthday just days away, he and Lars prepare for a night out on the town. But before they head out into the mean streets of Baltimore, they invite their friend Ethan over to sit in on a Hobo Radio podcast. The three old friends celebrate Joel’s birthday the only way they know how – by busting each other’s balls. Joel and Ethan even team up to hit on Lars’ mom and to mock his choice of neon green shoes. With Ethan on the show, they talk a bit about his fashion choices, his amazing facial hair and the awesome odd couple he and his wife make. The trio also discuss J.J. Abrams’ being hired to direct Star Wars VII, the plot holes in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the impending Super Bowl, featuring their hometown Baltimore Ravens.
Last week, Joel Murphy and Lars did something completely unprecedented – they actually teased what they would be talking about on this week’s show. That’s right, the dynamic duo actually had enough planning and forethought to not only have last week’s show sketched out, but this week’s as well. It’s nothing short of amazing, really, considering the “fly by the seat of our pants” nature of most of their shows. This week, they deliver on those plans, talking about how the future is depicted in movies and whether or not there should be an expectation of realism in films based on true events (like recent Academy Award nominees Argo, Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty). They also touch on a few other topics, including weighing on on our nation’s current gun debate.
Joel Murphy and Lars are back for 2013 and, as fate would have it, they make their return on the day the Academy Award nominations hit the Internet. So, of course, they take the time to share their thoughts on the nominations, including the biggest snubs and the selections that left them shaking their heads.
A news story on NPR has destroyed everything Joel Murphy thought he knew about dinosaurs. It seems that the brontosaurus never actually existed. The dinosaur’s creation was nothing more than a clerical error by a jerk paleontologist in the early 1900s looking to one up another jerk paleontologist (it was an era awesomely known as “The Bone Wars”).
